Immigrant Smugglers Get 3 Years in Prison

A onetime senior inspector with the Immigration and Naturalization Service and his former girlfriend have been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to smuggling illegal immigrants from the Philippines into the United States through LAX.

Rita A. Cunanan, 43, of North Hills was sentenced Monday to three years in prison. She pleaded guilty two months ago to conspiracy and bringing illegal immigrants into the United States.

Maximiano R. Ramos, 54, of North Hills was sentenced last week to 37 months in prison. A former supervisory inspector, Ramos pleaded guilty a year ago to conspiracy, bringing illegal immigrants into the U.S. and transporting illegal immigrants. A 19-year INS veteran, he resigned from the agency in July 2002, one month after his arrest.

“He violated the very duty he was sworn to uphold,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Andrew Cowan said Monday.

The pair misused a special federal program that enables passengers to bypass airport security as they transfer from one international flight to another.

Authorities contend that Ramos and Cunanan, who dated during the conspiracy, worked with others to meet undocumented immigrants at their arriving flights at Los Angeles International Airport, divert them from their connecting flights and escort them away from airport security.

In return, the pair were paid by the immigrants so they could illegally stay in the United States, authorities said.

The arrests of Ramos and others followed an 18-month investigation by the FBI.

Four others also were charged in the case.

Cunanan’s sister-in-law, Agnes Cunanan, 47, of Canoga Park, was sentenced earlier this year to eight months in prison; Vinzon S. Perez, 57, of Los Angeles, was sentenced to three years in prison; Agusto David Garcia, 52, of Panorama City, was sentenced to probation; and Eshraga E. Nugud, 41, of Torrance, fled the United States after her conviction and is a federal fugitive.

Perez, Garcia and Nugud all are former employees of Aviation Safeguards, a company that escorted passengers who were part of the federal Transit Without Visa Program, which made it easier for passengers to transfer between international flights.